September 2009

The Flower Press - - a newsletter of the Lincolnshire Garden ClubSeptember 2009

General Meeting and Program

Thursday, September 17, 2009

“Fall Garden Wrap Up”

Debbie Malinowski, Master
Gardener, University of Illinois Extension

Do you wonder, what exactly
should be done to prepare my garden for winter?You are in luck; Debbie will be sharing her Master Gardening expertise
with us, covering all aspects of winter garden preparation fromlawns to flowers, and trees to shrubs.

Thursday, September
17, 2009

Time:9:30 a.m. – Continental Breakfast

9:45 a.m. – Business
Meeting

10:15 a.m. – Program

Place:Vernon Area

Hospitality
Committee:

Kelly Dupont –
Chairwoman

Sandy Kalas

Bea Moore

Meg Zimmermann

From
the President’s Desk

Jan Stefans, President

Welcome to
another year of the Lincolnshire Garden Club. I am thrilled to see so
many returning members listed on our roster. I am hoping to meet some
new faces as well.

This
summer found us finishing the Depke shed and pond areas. The boys
also built a raised bed butterfly garden which joined the pond
plantings. It is our hope to have a fall garden walk through Depke,
provided the weather co-operates. The spring plantings at Riverside
Foundation finally got done in June with Meg, Kathleen Abdo, and me
planting annuals, tomatoes, and herbs with the residents. They were
thrilled to participate in the planting. We also had a "no
special prep" garden walk through five members yards. This was a
wonderful middle of the week activity that I hope others will offer up next
summer.

I am looking forward this year to implenting our website. Rick,
Lois, and the design team have been busy getting it ready. Please look
for the address in the newsletter. Also, Cheryl has been very busy putting
together our program plans for the year and I can't wait to see what to she has
in store for us! September 17th is just around the corner, I will see
you all then...

and remember there is magic in the dirt.

MUSINGS OF AN OLD GARDENER

By Elaine Petersen

Sometime at the end of August, the air suddenly changes and I know that
the summer is over.Did we have any
summer this year? The grass is yellow and tired. The meadows become
a bushy tangle of Joe Pye Weed, tansy, and thistles. Various species of
goldenrod and aster dominate the fields with their gold and purple
tones.

The New England Aster, Aster Novae-angliae, is a plant of the
roadsides, fields and open woodlands. Linnaeus named this aster for New
England when he first described it from specimens collected in that
region.It is a blue-flowered fall plant
bearing up to fifty purple-to-violet blue or, rarely, white flowers. It
grows up to eight feet tall. Because of its attractive flowers, this
species has also become a garden plant, and many cultivated varieties exist in
a range of blue, red and white. Bees, both in the garden and in the wild
stands, are attracted to it for its food pollen.

The Ojibwe Indians use this species to attract game by smoking the
leaves in a pipe to create an odor that attracts deer. The leaves were
also used by various Indian tribes for treatment of skin irritations and to
alleviate the effects of poison ivy.

The goldenrod genus name Solidago means to make whole, and was given to
this genus because one species was used as an herb to heal wounds at the time
of the Crusades. Many of the species of goldenrod were used as medicinal
plants for a variety of ailments, especially for kidney diseases.

The goldenrods are often accused of the evils of another group of
plants in the aster family, the ragweeds. Because the goldenrods, with
their conspicuous show of yellow flowers, bloom at the same time as the much
less obvious ragweeds, they are frequently blamed for the hay fever caused by
the ragweeds. Colorful monarch butterflies rest and feed on the
goldenrods and thistles during their brave journey to warm Mexico.

I love the peace of this season and the last lazy days of Indian
summer before a strong October wind comes and blows all the beauty
away. Enjoy each day.

NOTES FROM OUR PROGRAM
CHAIR, CHERYL MITCHELL

The last few years we have been providing a mix of program topics to
try to suit everyone’s tastes in gardening, from hands-on, getting dirty
gardening to landscape design to beautiful gardens around the world.So please look over the yearbook and see the
variety we have to offer this year, which I’m sure you will enjoy.

We are beginning the year with a topic to help us in the very necessary
preparation of our garden for our Midwest winters.I know I am always wondering about the best
ways to preserve my plants so I am looking forward to learning from Debbie
Malinowski.Debbie is a Master Gardener
with the University of Illinois Extension.

This October, we have a very special speaker that many of you may have
heard of either for her garden, or as the author of a book, or as the founder
of Market Day.I am very pleased that
our October 15th speaker will be Trudi Temple.I have heard about her for years as having a magnificent garden at her
one-acre lot in Hinsdale.I was always
disappointed that I wasn’t able to tour it.I think she will be very interesting as she speaks with us about her
childhood in Germany and gardening and other life experiences have helped her
to “live life in full bloom.”

Trudi shared that she usually speaks at least an hour and a half.We will do our best to shorten our business
meeting in October, and we will start eating on time.Hopefully you can arrange your schedule for
that day so that you can hear the entire presentation.

WANTED

Publicity Chair - Put your computer skills to
use once a month advertising our garden club happenings.Most of the work has already been set up by
Hope May who is now teaching four days a week at CLC.For more info, contact Hope at rocklady13@hotmail.com.

Bake Shop
Chair for the Benefit - (November 6th, 7-10 p.m). This is a short-term responsibility
the week of the Benefit. No experience necessary.The job involves gathering items from
members, pricing them and setting up the display area at the benefit.Contact Jan at bunkystefans@yahoo.com.

Horticulture Articles
for our
newsletter.Submit to our newsletter
editor Jeanne Top at thetops4@comcast.net.

Free Lectures are held on Fridays and Saturdays at 10:00 to 11:30
A.M. at Chalet's Education Center 3132 Lake Avenue., Wilmette,
Illinois.

Sept. 11 & Sept. 12:Free the ButterfliesFreya Wellin, Chalet's Perennial Buyer has
been busy raising butterflies all summer. She will teach you about the
life cycles and the host plants that are needed. There is still time to
add some to your garden. This lecture is timed to co-ordinate with the
peak migration dates of the Monarchs for this latitude and longitude.

Sept. 25 & Sept. 26:Bulbs for Beginners:Most people forget about the gorgeous spring
flowering bulbs until March when the first snowdrops appear. The magic
about these bulbs is that they need cold winter temperatures buried in the
ground to grant them permission to bloom when the temperatures rise in the
spring. Let Jennifer Brennan introduce you to the beautiful variety that
is available.

Oct. 9 & Oct. 10:Inviting
Birds into your GardenFall is the
perfect time to set up bird feeders. It allows the winter dweller to get
familiar with them before the bad weather, and gives the migratory birds much
needed nutrition for their travels. Let Jennifer Brennan,
Horticulture Information Specialist, tell you about plants that provide
shelter, berries and other food sources; andhow to keep a consistent source of water for our feathered friends.

New ideas will be highlighted in one edition of the Newsletter and then moved to our the Recycling section on the Lincolnshire Garden Club website (www.lincolnshiregardenclub.com/recyling). This sight will include, among other things, upcoming special recycling events and a list of recycling locations for specific items.